Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

With the enormous changes to our economies and financial markets?—?how how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued?

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socalTECH

APRIL 15, 2020

The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) says that Q1 2020 venture capital investments had a "strong showing" in Q1, however, it expects that the impending economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic will slow activity through the rest of the year.

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Venture Capital Capital Report Invest 113

Tech.Co

MAY 16, 2024

However, despite growing optimism, the path to success for Black entrepreneurs is still paved with systematic barriers in 2024. Power Forward Small Business Grant Black Founder Startup Grant Powershift Entrepreneurs Grant NAACP and Lelsie’s Certification Boost Grant U.S. Deadline: Rolling Learn more and apply today 3.

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Design Commerce Entrepreneur News 221

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were chatting about venture capital and a bit about what I’ve learned. I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). You have to deal with CEOs who resign.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

On the phone … Me: So, you raised venture capital? Convertible notes have both features in them but for some reason entrepreneurs don’t understand it. It’s like we need a finance 101 course for entrepreneurs. It’s like we need a finance 101 course for entrepreneurs. We raised a seed round.

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Venture Capital Capital Pricing Doc 417

socalTECH

JULY 16, 2014

For the last few years, startup accelerator MuckerLab has been helping very early stage companies define and grow their businesses, using the accelerator model and small investments to get companies to the next stage. Talk about the shift from MuckerLab to Mucker Capital? I hadn''t worked or lived in LA, in the ecosystem.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Most VCs did well academically and had enough career success that a venture firm was willing to give them an investment role or they were able to raise their own fund. It’s easy to think the role of a VC is to have strong opinions about markets, trends, tech dynamics and so forth. Fundamentally venture capital is about human capital.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2022

By most definitions of the term, an entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business, incorporating innovative changes to existing products, services, business models, and creating new markets. One way of identifying the right characteristics and approaches is to take a hard look at entrepreneurs who have done it.

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Examples Entrepreneur Technology Resource 131

socalTECH

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Here, we have Greg Martin, Founder and Managing Partner of Archer Venture Capital (www.archervc.com). At Liquid Stock, we were fortunate the IPO market stayed red-hot and we had two successful IPOs with Sumo Logic and Wish along with the filing of Affirm, Marqeta and Robinhood which we expect to go public early in Q1/2021.

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socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2018

This morning, Moonshots Capital (www.moonshotscapital.com), led by Kelly Perdew and Craig Cummings , announced its first formal fund, a $19M seed stage fund. What we would do, is we would round up ten other angel investors, get $25,000 from each of them, and then roll up our sleeves and help that entrepreneur find venture capital.

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Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 21, 2019

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen executive summaries of business plans in which the entrepreneur seeks $5,000,000 to build the business. First, few startups can use that much money today with all the virtual services available and increasingly inexpensive methods of development, prototyping and marketing.

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Startup Invest Summary Resource 120

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

It was only a year ago that many in the Venture Capital industry were predicting that “winter was coming” and to be fair the author of this post was chief amongst them. Yet as we enter February 2017 the VC funding markets are booming, Snap, Inc has filed for its IPO, AppDynamics was just purchased for $3.7 Baidu alone raised $3.2

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Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 150

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

Santa Monica-based venture investor March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) announced last week that it has raised a second fund, worth $300M. To learn about the new fund, we sat down with Jamie Montgomery , one of the fund's co-founders, to hear about March Capital's strategy and the new fund. We started March Capital in late 2013.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

The Alliance said it has launched its new SoCal Venture Pipeline program, to help bridge a key funding gap for Southern California entrepreneurs, by connecting them to relevant venture capital firms. The new program is being run in partnership with Silicon Valley Bank.

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TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 12, 2022

providing freshly packaged salads, heat-and-eat prepared meals and vegan overnight oats, raised $7 million in funding as it goes after the $34 billion fresh prepared foods market. Positive Food Co., It has since expanded its locations with them and are now in Bristol Farms locations, including 86 throughout California.

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Invest Los Angeles Startup Funding 175

socalTECH

JANUARY 29, 2020

This week, Los Angeles-based Crosscut Ventures announced a brand new effort to provide health and wellness to the founders of companies it invests in, helping those founders with well being, mental health, stress management, coaching, and leadership development. Tell us about this new program? It's a comprehensive bucket.

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TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

Riot Ventures , the Los Angeles-based, early-stage and deep technology investment firm is going out to market to raise a $75 million second fund to finance the development of startups in LA and beyond, according to fundraising documents viewed by TechCrunch. Marcus has a long background in angel investing and company creation.

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Los Angeles Artificial Inteligence Invest Angel 126

socalTECH

DECEMBER 12, 2013

Santa Monica-based online car buying technology provider TrueCar said this morning that it has raised $30M in a new round of funding, from Vulcan Capital, the venture funding arm of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. TrueCar said the new funds will go towards market expansion, product development, and to build its brand. READ MORE>>.

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socalTECH

JANUARY 29, 2019

Los Angeles-based HeyTutor , an online marketplace for finding tutors, has raised $1M in its Series A funding, the company announced on Tuesday, from Santa Barbara-based ScOp Venture Capital, the venture investment firm led by serial entrepreneur and investor Kevin O'Connor.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

If you read this blog often you'll know that I'm a huge fan of First Round Capital. They have totally changed the way you run a VC firm, investing heavily in systems & events for their founders that are pushing the boundaries of the way our industry works. Investing Strategy. I'm a huge fan of this innovation. and Half.com.

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Capital Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 284

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Is it a good market opportunity? Start by figuring out who your target market is—and no, not everyone is your target market. If so, that’s market potential. Just as it’s not always what you know, but who you know, in the world of investment capital, the motto could read: it’s not what you’re doing, but who you are.

Invest 95

Invest Capital Startup Venture Capital 95

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

Serious entrepreneurs know that, but too many “wannabes” still fall for that elusive get-rich-quick scheme with no risk. As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. My conclusion either way is that they have no market, or haven’t looked. Operational.

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Entrepreneur Marketing Customer Custom 107

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2020

Savvy entrepreneurs start testing their ideas on potential customers even before the concept is fully cooked. This early in the game, any coverage and peer review is better than just being another unknown entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs who wait to be found are destined to spend a lot of time alone. Capitalize on yourself early.

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Ideas Tips Marketing Social Media 124

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

If you want the full SlideShare deck with many slides not in either post it’s in this link –> The LA Tech Market. ” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. Has it begun to mature or is it just better marketed than in was say 5 years ago?

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Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 19, 2020

A new initiative from a Los Angeles investor is taking stock of venture firms and their ability to commit capital in an effort to match firms that are still open for business and cutting checks to startups that are fundraising in the age of COVID-19. PLEASE RT to spread the word. — Laurent Grill (@laurentgrill) March 18, 2020.

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Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Los Angeles 135

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 21, 2018

Phoenix communities are celebrating because JPMorgan Chase has made several local charitable investments to support underserved entrepreneurs and small businesses with the goal of creating jobs and spark a growing economy. Techstars Startup Week is celebration of entrepreneurs in cities around the globe.

Invest 70

Invest Entrepreneur News Tips 70

socalTECH

DECEMBER 28, 2017

This morning, we have a contribution from investor and investment banker Peter Cowen of Sutton Capital Partners. Sutton Capital Partners is a technology investment banking firm and we are, investors in local SaaS/subscription companies and is well known as the host of the annual Recurring Revenue Conference.

Capital 124

Capital Southern California SaaS SoCal 124

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on the skills I’ve developed in my career. That’s what he knows best.

Invest 284

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 284

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 24, 2012

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen executive summaries of business plans in which the entrepreneur seeks $5,000,000 to build the business. First, few startups can use that much money today with all of the virtual services available and increasingly inexpensive methods of development, prototyping and marketing.

Resource 180

Resource Invest Summary Startup 180

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2011

This is the final part of a 3-part series on the major changes in the structure of the software & the venture capital industries. With more competition in early-stage many VCs are investing smaller amounts at earlier stages. But … Downsizing Venture Capital. The series started here if you want to read from the start.

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Venture Capital Capital Cloud Computing Marketing 289

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

Thus, it is incumbent on entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into viable businesses before seeking venture funding. Entrepreneurs Are Never Stuck. I recently was sent a Tweet from an aspiring entrepreneur which said, “I have a prototype but I need funding to bring it to market. We were long on vision and short on capital.

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Entrepreneur Ideas Seed Funding Capital 100

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

Serial entrepreneur, venture investor and startup accelerator pioneer Brad Feld has notoriously mocked traditional marketing throughout his career. If you have amazing products, the marketing of those products is trivial. If you have $hitty products, the marketing is impossible. Trada – Guerilla Marketing In Action.

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Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

InfoChachkie

MAY 6, 2013

This is due to a fundamental disconnect between the increased activity of high-volume seed investors (that fill out lots of Seed rounds) and the relatively small number of Series A investors, who only make 1 or 2 investments, per partner, per year.". There is a similar Darwinian aspect to venture capital investing.

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Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Capital 246

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 2, 2022

Serious entrepreneurs know that, but too many “wannabes” still fall for that elusive get-rich-quick scheme with no risk. As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. My conclusion either way is that they have no market, or haven’t looked. Operational.

Entrepreneur 153

Entrepreneur Marketing Customer Custom 153

socalTECH

MAY 25, 2016

Santa Monica-based March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) has just announced a brand new, $240M venture investment fund, led by longtime venture investing veterans Jim Armstrong, Sumant Mandal, Gregory Milken and Jamie Montgomery. What is the investment focus for this fund?

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Southern California Capital Funding Invest 113

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. on the entrepreneur side of the table) when I raised at too high of a price.

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Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 11, 2021

Venture capitalists sometimes make an error in directing their portfolio company CEOs to push resources to the limit and scale the business to immense size quickly, all to seize market share. It was true for Amazon and other visionary companies that grabbed market share during the early Internet era. But beware.

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